A/N: Oh no! I feel the end coming! :D But it is also exciting. I am happy about the upcoming chapters. A lot of action. Except for the chapter 36. That one I know will make me feel bad. But, that is for me to know and for you to read it when it comes out. :D

Happy reading!

Henny, that lucky Penny!

Building Bridges

"No. I won't be telling you that." Neville shook his head and I swallowed the anger in my chest at the denial. That is not even fair. I get what I want when I want it.

"Why?" I asked in a hiss. Maybe the Slytherins were rubbing off on me. I have been sounding like a snake these days. And I really hated it.

"'Cause, then you will run out of here and poor Justin won't get his duel." Neville replied with a secret smile. When he is not being a ruffian, he can look quite sweet and charming. Must be a Gryffindor thing.

Dead Gods, when did I start focusing on Houses and not the people? When they started thinking about you in a negative light after you donned the green and silver, that is when.

"Damn it! Are you really going to hold me to that?" I huffed, "I will chew that boy to bits and spit him back out."

"I don't think you quite understand what they have been doing here." he stated matter-of-factly, "They really work on defensive spells from dawn 'til dusk." he said informatively. I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, of course. How silly of me. I figured that you were bringing them cakes and cookies to snack on so they may hold tea parties and frolic around this room acting like little girls in a fantasy world." I sneered, "I don't think you understand that I went through extensive training. I haven't just started preparing for this moment. I have been preparing for it most of my teen life."

"Then what are you so afraid of?" the challenging look he was shooting at me made me bristle. His tone was even challenging. I considered my choices.

I could just beat the information out of him. That would prove fruitless since he took on Death Eaters and an emotionless Headmaster when they were trying to figure out what Harry Potter was up to. He held his own while bleeding and near unconscious. I would not get very far with brute force.

I could gage how well the students have been absorbing their training. I gathered that they have been continuing their education. There is not much else for them to do here. I really did not think they have been throwing proper tea parties and the like. That would be irresponsible of the older students. Mostly Neville though. I am sure that Dean had been given his books and he may have been tutoring the younger children to be at least closer to his level. Whatever level that might be.

"Nothing. Let's turn this place into an arena and hold some dueling practice. I need to blow off some steam." I accepted the challenge with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Excellent. The seventh years have been itching for someone new. We all know our tells and our best spells. Dueling now is just about working on our stamina." Neville's eyes went bright with joy. I felt a little put off. I do not want to be hexed to death because I made the mistake of going into an enclosed space with a bunch of cabin fevered twats.

Half an hour later we changed the room into a dueling space. An enclosed arena that resembled a hockey rink, benches included, was in the middle. Instead of booths for separate teams, the glass walls went all the way around and the benches were tucked safely behind them all the way around. The walls had been charmed to be impervious to wayward spells. The floor of the area was sand and had poles and faux rocks for dodging spells you could not block. It was a pretty nice set up. I was very impressed.

What bothered me were the death glares I was receiving. There were a number of seventh and sixth years who did not appreciate my presence. I felt very oppressed and unnerved. It was uncomfortable. I shook the feeling when Neville brought me a soccer kit that Dean so graciously let me borrow. I had a feeling Neville took pity on the lack of coverings on my arms and coerced Dean into letting me borrow a shirt. I do not think he has been very comfortable around me since I laid a kiss on his cheek when I was drunk.

"Now, we all know how to properly duel. No Unforgiveable Curses and since we are learning, we won't be needing any seconds. So, that also means no stepping out of turn to help a friend." Neville spoke with authority to the children. He had positioned himself in the middle of the dueling area and did not have to shout.

"Those are the rules?" I asked curiously. He did not mention slicing spells or disfigurement spells. I was a little worried.

"Is there a problem with them?" Seamus asked condescendingly. I turned my head to him and saw him watching me carefully.

"No, I was just making sure. I don't feel like being accused of cheating. You know that whole Slytherin thing. It is quite troublesome." I replied off handedly. I saw some of the children shift in their seated positions.

"Don't fret about that, Henria; we will make sure to let you know when you are cheating." Neville almost sneered. I heard it. He was holding back. Or he was trying to make it sound more like a threat. This is a vibe I was getting quite clearly.

"Great. As long as I don't end up being accused. I do hate when people don't have the balls to back up their claims." I said pointedly. A few mumbles went through the crowd. The warning look I received was enough to make me keep my mouth shut. But really, I was done making people angry for now.

"So, who wants to go first?" Neville called, ignoring my jab. No one raised their hands.

A few moments of silence passed before I sighed. I brought my hand up in the air slowly and suddenly seven hands followed mine. I rolled my eyes at the hungry gleam in their eyes as they glanced over at me. I was literally a bloody steak to them. All they saw was a chance to get revenge on every Slytherin fucktard that ever hexed or jinxed them in the corridors. Neville chuckled to himself. It really was not that funny!

"All right, Henria come on out." he waved me over. I sauntered my way to the entrance. I kind of felt like I was walking to my death.

I joined him in the middle and I could feel the anxious peers vying for their chance to have a go at me. It was pressing on my throat, kind of like a noose. I am going to compare this to a hanging. I just walked up to the gallows and now the executioner just put the rope around my neck. I always wanted pearls though.

"Come on Justin. You said you wanted a go earlier." Neville pointed to the brunette boy. Now I really felt bad. I really could hurt this kid. He looked sweet and baby faced still. I looked at Neville with pleading eyes. He just shook his head in amusement.

As Justin made his way to the floor, I set about tying the side of Dean's shirt into a knot. The bottom hem was too long, so by tying the shirt off at the side, it shortened the length and kept any extra fabric out of my way. Then I took a borrowed hair tie from Ginny and twisted my hair into a bun to keep it out of my way. I took Denali's feather and handed it to Neville. He nodded his head in understanding. I tucked the knot I made in the shirt under the new hem and stood facing Justin Finch-Fletchly.

"Alright you two please bow." we acquiesced to his command. I felt my heart start to beat faster. Was I nervous? "Now, present your wands." I brought my wand up to face level. No, I am not nervous. I am excited.

I studied Justin closely. He was standing steady and confident. He might not be so easy to defeat. I think I am really in for a challenge.

"Ten paces you two." Neville commanded. I turned on my heel and started pacing. I could hear Justin do the same thing.

On my tenth step, I stopped and spun to face my competition. Neville had left for the safety of the glass. I saw a wicked smile darken Justin's face. Yeah, he is going to be trouble. I can already tell. He thinks he knows more than I do. Is that because he really believes that I practice dark magic? Does he honestly think that I sit around a tome that could burn your hand off and recite spells that can twist your bones into pretzels? I shuddered at that thought. That sounded horrid. No wonder they are suspicious of me.

"Ready?" I heard Neville's muffled voice from over the glass. We dropped into our defensive positions. At our simultaneous nods, he cleared his throat, "Begin!"

"Expelliarmus!" Justin quickly called out. I dropped down to a knee and let the spell fly over my head. I quickly shot a jelly leg jinx, "Protego!"

I noted that he was quick on the draw. He blocked my jinx very well. And I think he was testing me. He paused as I stood back on both feet. A small smirk was playing across his lips. I narrowed my eyes in consideration. I am pretty sure that he is just playing around with me.

"Depluso!" I hissed. He was also quick on his feet. He dodged the banishment charm with practiced side steps. That feeling I had in the beginning where I felt bad for him. Yeah, that was gone now. I think I might actually have a real challenge on my hands.

"Everte Statum!" I heard him shout. Shit! I had gotten lost in my own thoughts. My body hit the side of the arena with a loud thud. I felt pain explode along the parts that made contact. I gasped for air as it was stolen by the force; "Expelliarmus!" my wand popped out of my hand and flew across the small stadium. I heard a few snickers.

I gritted my teeth and scrambled to my feet. My eyes were zeroed in on Justin. His triumphant smirk had my blood boiling. Good. You keep that awful look on your face. I will get you where it hurts.

"Avis!" I growled and in congruence with my mood, a murder of crows appeared over my head. I heard a few gasps of surprise. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention I could do wandless magic, "Oppungo!" I flicked my wrist in Justin's direction.

A squeak of surprise filled the area and I smirked as he tried to fend off the crows. When he was thoroughly distracted I raised my hand and pictured my wand. I narrowed my eyes on the object I needed to survive, "Accio wand!" I shouted steadily. I saw my Ivy wood weapon get wrenched out of his grasp and soar to my through the air. My hand felt complete as I raised it, "Finite Incantartem!"

My murder of crows vanished. Justin looked at me with a mixture of surprise and frustration. I suppose he is surprised I took pity on him and ended the assault and frustrated that he thought he had won. I kept my expression neutral. We stood staring at each other. I was waiting for him to attack. He was concentrating on his next spell. Well, that is what I imagined anyway.

"Stupefy!" a jet of red light flew from the tip of his wand and I dove to the side behind a rock. I clutched at my heart as I panted my way through a panic attacked. Fuck! Shit! Fuck!

Do something, Henria! Get out of your head and do something, Henria! You need to get up! Quit being a pussy and get up and finish this wiseguy off! Show everyone that you are not some scared snake and that you know what the hell you are doing! Get the fuck up and finish this!

"Snake! I know it is habit by now, but you shouldn't hide behind rocks." I heard him taunt. I still did not have my breathing under control. I swallowed dryly, trying to do something other than breathe hard with my mouth. It worked a little as my chest stopped heaving so much. I loosened my grip on my chest, "Come out and play!" his trash talk really needed some work. I took a long and deep breathe. I let it out slowly and felt my pulse return to normal. Good. We now have progress.

"Bombarda!" I cried as I threw the spell in a random direction. Misdirection. I rolled out onto my knee and took stock in where he was. He had dumbly looked towards my exploding spell, "Stupefy!" I shouted and my stunner hit him in the chest. I watched as his body flew back a few inches stiffly, "Expelliarmus!" and caught the flying wand deftly.

I rose to my full height and calmly walked over to his prone body. I knelt down beside him and stared at his smooth face. I shoved his wand in my back pocket and began waving mine over his body, "Rennervate." I murmured softly.

Justin blinked his eyes open and started feeling around for his wand. His hand accidently brushed along my jean clad thigh. He recoiled at the unexpected contact and snapped his gaze to my face.

"Want to know why that worked?" I asked nonplussed at his reaction. He nodded his head slowly, "Well, I was having a panic attack and I needed a way to get your eyes off of my rock. You, being naturally curious, watched as the spell took effect on whatever object I hit. I had a fifty-fifty chance that you might have been distracted. I wouldn't advise you to ever use that tactic, but with naturally curious children, it works." I pulled his wand out and he watched me carefully, "Promise not to hex me as I walk out of here the winner?" I rolled the piece of wood between my fingers.

"Sure. You won fair and square, right?" he shrugged his shoulders. I did not trust him. He was too nonchalant about this. But, I will play mind fuck games today. I have nothing else to do and I have an abundant amount of energy since I am anxious to know when I can see Denali.

I held the wand out, handle first. His fingers wrapped around the wood like an old friend. I shot him a quick smile and got off my knees. I offered him a hand up and he took it. After he was steady on his feet, I patted him on the chest gently before I turned to walk out.

I had gotten about five paces away before I heard shifting behind me. I resisted the urge to turn around. I am trying to build bridges here with these kids. So I continued walking, pretending I was not anticipating the attack.

"Conjuration is a hard skill to learn, especially wandlessly. How did you learn it?" Justin's voice sounded curious. I paused my next step and turned my torso so I could twist my head around.

"I'm the great niece of Albus Dumbledore." I stated softly, "He recognised my affinity to conjuring and we built on that." I shot him a soft smile. He returned it without any malice, "You should find your niche and build upon that." I continued my walk out of the arena.

Once I passed through the doorway, Neville was waiting for me. He looked a little worried. I became confused. Why would he be worried about me?

"Why did you panic?" he asked with concern lining his eyes. I examined his features for the mocking or taunting.

"Alecto Carrow used a stunner spell on Denali to make him fall from the sky. I just had a flash of remembering." I answered emotionless, "Why do you think I try to keep emotions from creeping to the surface? They get in the way and are bothersome."

"That's...that's ridiculous!" he exclaimed. I stepped back in shock. It is perfectly good logic.

"It works for me. I like to have my life in order so I don't have those kinds of things creep their way into my wand work." I shrugged my shoulders to try and brush off his indignant sputtering, "It helps that my family is millions of miles away. It doesn't help that I don't know where my bird is. And I don't know what state he is in. Why do you think he stayed on my shoulder for so long? I knew where he was and how he was doing."

"You are complicated." Neville observed. I nodded my head in agreement, "I'm going to stay, but Seamus wants to go do some homework. He is headed for the dormitory if you want to shower the sand off and wait for me." he waved over Seamus.

"Sure. That will help. I have an essay to write, I'm sure." I smiled at Seamus as he stepped next to Neville. He returned it.

"Nice recovery, Sownbinder. Finch-Fletchly didn't see it coming." the sandy haired Irish man praised. I winked at him.

"Here, Dean. You can have your shirt back." I called out to the dark skinned boy. He waved me off.

"Keep it. Looks better on you than me." he winked at me and I smiled.

"Ready to go, then?" Seamus asked me. I nodded my head.

We headed out of the Room of Requirement. I felt light hearted. I honest to Merlin felt good. I do not know if I proved something today, but the children seem to have accepted me. I am beginning to think it has something to do with the fact that I showed myself in that duel. I think they saw that I was not a threat to them. Confessing that I was the great niece of their beloved Headmaster must have struck a chord with them. It helped that I did not manipulate the situation to bring me in a darker light. I am really good at that. I tried to keep them all at a distance and in turn they did not trust me. But showing that I was nothing but a girl who loved magic and could actually hold my own let them see that Henria Sownbinder was not just a bitch, but a powerful bitch.

I guess I could work on my attitude, but why would I want to? Being a hardass has gotten me pretty far in these circumstances. I continually get targeted by the bad guys. I get to play both sides of the spectrum to my advantage. Yeah, I may bleed a little, but I can heal wounds with or without magic. Yeah, I may have had an emotional rollercoaster, but I still make it so I come out on top. Being targeted has kept many innocent children from suffering the wrath of a psychopath. And I am still keeping my promise to Minerva.

I felt good about myself. And that is usually pretty hard because a lot of bad things have happened in my life. I lost my mother very young. I have been picked apart by my peers and teachers alike. I lost my great uncle at the hands of Death Eaters. I moved away from my family when I was not ready to. I have put a big black X on my back for all manner of people to see. And I saw my baby fall from the sky.

Even after all that, I feel like I am accomplishing something. It may be small, like forming a sort of alliance with peers who think I am scum just because of the color of robes I wear. But it was something and it might just be the something I can use to work through all the problems I am having. I can see myself, finally, fighting by these kids and I can see us really winning. I always believed, because of the foundation that Uncle Albus set down, that the Light would win. But with them finally tolerating me, I can actually see it.

I had a smile on my face the whole way to Gryffindor Tower and I did not care who saw it.